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With research staff from more than 70 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Abhijeet Mishra

Abhijeet Mishra is a Research Fellow in the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit. Abhijeet’s research interests include future sustainable pathways for the global land-use system and the trade-offs between land-based mitigation, food security, and other sustainable development goals.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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IFPRI currently has more than 480 employees working in over 70 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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experts

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Daniel Gilligan

Director, Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI)

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Dan Gilligan is Director of the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, and previously served as Deputy Director in IFPRI’s former Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division from 2015 to 2023. He is also Co-Lead of the CGIAR Research Initiative on Gender Equality (HER+). His research addresses the impact of interventions in social protection, agriculture, and nutrition; gender dimensions of intrahousehold decision-making; the design of programs to improve women’s well-being; and the economics of household investments in childhood nutrition and education. He has expertise in the design and conduct of randomized impact evaluations and many of his studies are based on mixed methods evaluations combining qualitative methods with field experiments. From 2013 to 2016, he was Adjunct Professor in the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. His research has been featured in The New York Times, the Economist, The Atlantic online, and in blogs at VoxDev, the World Bank, and The Guardian. He holds a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland.

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Publications

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

The early bird gets the cash: Early notification and conditional cash transfers for secondary school

2026Leight, Jessica; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Mulford, Michael; Zafar, Sarim
Details

The early bird gets the cash: Early notification and conditional cash transfers for secondary school

What is the optimal timing for a cash transfer targeting increased secondary school enrollment? We present evidence from a randomized trial in rural Ethiopia showing a CCT increases enrollment and reduces child marriage. The largest effects are observed for youth offered the transfer a year prior to their (potential) matriculation; in this cohort, there is also a significant in-crease in the probability students pass the primary school leaving exam. By contrast, reduced treatment effects are observed for prior dropouts, and a generalized random forest analysis suggests this primarily reflects different observable characteristics (lower academic performance) among this sub-sample.

Year published

2026

Authors

Leight, Jessica; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Mulford, Michael; Zafar, Sarim

Citation

Leight, Jessica; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Mulford, Michael; and Zafar, Sarim. 2026. The early bird gets the cash: Early notification and conditional cash transfers for secondary school. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2421. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/183379

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Cash Transfers; Social Protection; Education; Youth; Secondary Education

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Journal Article

Targeting social assistance in fragile settings: An experiment in community-based targeting

2026Abay, Kibrom A.; Berhane, Guush; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Tafere, Kibrom; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum
Details

Targeting social assistance in fragile settings: An experiment in community-based targeting

Year published

2026

Authors

Abay, Kibrom A.; Berhane, Guush; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Tafere, Kibrom; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum

Citation

Abay, Kibrom A.; Berhane, Guush; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Tafere, Kibrom; and Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum. 2026. Targeting social assistance in fragile settings: An experiment in community-based targeting. Journal of Development Economics 182(June 2026): 103819. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2026.103819

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Targeting; Social Protection; Fragility; Randomized Controlled Trials; Local Communities

Language

English

Access/Licence

Limited Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2026.103819 Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Journal Article

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Brief

The impact of a nutrition-sensitive graduation model on child nutrition: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia

2026Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hirvonen, Kalle; Leight, Jessica; Mesfin, Hiwot; Mulford, Michael; Tesfaye, Haleluya
Details

The impact of a nutrition-sensitive graduation model on child nutrition: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia

This brief reports on a three-arm cluster randomized controlled trial of 3,015 households evaluating the effectiveness of SPIR II, a nutrition-sensitive graduation model implemented in Ethiopia. The full treatment package—combining nutrition-focused behavior change communication (BCC), village economics and savings associations, monthly maternal cash transfers of US$20, and a one-time livelihood grant of US$300—generates large, sustained improvements in child diet quality, household consumption, livestock holdings, and formal savings. A substantial reduction in childhood stunting (7 percentage points) is observed in the same sub-arm; BCC alone improves caregiver nutrition knowledge but does not lead to improved child feeding or growth. The benefit-cost ratio is nearly two, suggesting the program more than pays for itself.

Year published

2026

Authors

Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hirvonen, Kalle; Leight, Jessica; Mesfin, Hiwot; Mulford, Michael; Tesfaye, Haleluya

Citation

Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hirvonen, Kalle; Leight, Jessica; Mesfin, Hiwot; Mulford, Michael; and Tesfaye, Haleluya. 2026. The impact of a nutrition-sensitive graduation model on child nutrition: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/182850

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Impact; Nutrition; Child Nutrition; Modelling; Randomized Controlled Trials; Benefit-cost Ratio

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Blogs

Can cash and therapy work in conflict settings? Evidence from Ethiopia
Research Post
 | 
May 27, 2026

Can cash and therapy work in conflict settings? Evidence from Ethiopia

By Melissa Hidrobo, Harold Alderman, Negussie Deyessa, Daniel Gilligan, Parthu Kalva, Jessica Leight, Michael Mulford, and Heleene Tambet

Confronting the vicious cycle of poverty and mental health problems.

Can simpler, cheaper poverty graduation programs still deliver? Evidence from Ethiopia
Research Post
 | 
May 08, 2026

Can simpler, cheaper poverty graduation programs still deliver? Evidence from Ethiopia

By Jessica Leight, Daniel Gilligan, Melissa Hidrobo, Harold Alderman, and Michael Mulford

A “light touch” model delivers mixed results.

School meals and school-based actions for people and the planet: Nourishing bodies, minds, and futures
Research Post
 | 
May 01, 2026

School meals and school-based actions for people and the planet: Nourishing bodies, minds, and futures

By Tamsin Zandstra, Aulo Gelli, Daniel Gilligan, and Eleanor Jones

Impacts on education and beyond.

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Events

Inequality within and outside the household: Reflections from Agnes Quisumbing's career
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

June 24, 2026, 10:00 – 11:30 am

Inequality within and outside the household: Reflections from Agnes Quisumbing’s career

Also streaming on Please type your questions into the chat box with name, affiliation, and country. The event video, presenter slides, and podcast will be available in the days following the event. Throughout a career spanning more than four decades, Agnes Quisumbing has made major contributions to research on intrahousehold allocation, poverty and economic mobility, […]

Engines of Growth in Fragile Contexts: Launching the IFPRI–UNU-WIDER research partnership
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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June 10, 2026, 9:00 – 11:00 am

Engines of Growth in Fragile Contexts: Launching the IFPRI–UNU-WIDER research partnership

Fragile and conflict-affected settings account for a growing share of global poverty. Roughly 2 billion people live in these areas, accounting for 25% of the world’s population but 72% of the world’s extreme poor. At the national level, many fragile economies struggle to sustain growth, create jobs, and recover from repeated shocks. Yet even amid […]

Financing Social Protection in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

April 29, 2026, 9:00 – 10:30 am

Financing Social Protection in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Social protection and safety net programs have expanded significantly across many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the last two decades. Despite this progress, the expansion and coverage of these programs remain uneven, leaving nearly 2 billion people in LMICs without access to social protection. Innovative financing mechanisms and domestic funding have helped some LMICs […]

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News

June 10, 2026 | Press Release

IFPRI and UNU-WIDER sign memorandum of understanding to advance research and policy in fragile contexts

The partnership reflects a shared commitment to generating high-quality, policy-relevant research and ensuring that evidence informs decision-making in some of the world’s most challenging environments.

September 22, 2020 | In the News

Cash assistance against corona crisis (Bistandsaktuelt) 

Bistandsaktuelt published an article on social protection in the form of cash payments to help prevent millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa from being thrown into extreme poverty because of the corona pandemic.  Deputy Division Director (PHN) and Senior Research Fellow Dan Gilligan states, “We are holding our breath to see if it will really explode in a large number of countries in […]

March 04, 2019 | In the News

What happens when you incentivise primary education in Uganda (VoxDev)

VoxDev published an op-ed regarding primary education incentivez in Uganda by Deputy Division Director Daniel Gilligan and Research Fellow Naureen Karachiwalla. Their research found that incentivizing teachers for achievement can increase education attainment when paired with adequate instructional resources.

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